Verse inscriptions and literary epigrams have attracted the attention of classical scholarship for a variety of reasons: extending over an impressive range of time from the archaic era until the Byzantine period, the epigram is a multifaceted genre that can be studied for its formalistic features, its thematics and aesthetics, its narrative technique, its typology and classification, its ascription into the ideological and social contexts, its value as archaeological and historical evidence, its cultural impact and reception.

The forthcoming conference will focus on a less-discussed aspect of the epigram, that of language and style. Scholars are encouraged to explore the dialect(s), diction and style of literary epigrams and inscriptions from both traditional and modern viewpoints (rhetoric, linguistics, history of language, textual criticism, aesthetics, reader-response theory, cultural studies).

Issues that will be addressed include among others: the dialectic variety of the epigram as a historical and/or literary phenomenon; epigrammatic Kunstsprache and matters of spelling, syntactical patterns and dialectal admixture; linguistic realism, colloquialisms and vernacular diction; poetic vocabulary, glossai and special terminology in the literary epigram; formalistic uses of the epigrammatic discourse (riddles, acrostics, visual and aural wordplay); the interplay between language, narrative and thematics (e.g. visualization through ecphrastic language, subjectivity and point of view, genres of epigrammatic discourse); the textuality of the epigram as an act of writing and reading; language and reception of epigram.

The conference will be held in English.

The conference is planned within the Action “Ancient Greek Dialects of vital importance for the continuity of the Greek language and the cultural tradition” (NSRF 2007-2013).

Organizing Committee

Franco Montanari, University of Genova

Antonios Rengakos, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki & Academy of Athens